By Jim Knippenberg
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Gear up, Cincinnati. Reality TV is headed back to town for an open casting call.

The Apprentice, the popular show where 16 people compete in a series of challenges to see who will take over an arm of Donald Trump's empire, will hold an open casting call here Aug. 6 (there's a slim chance it could bump back to Aug. 7) at the Cincinnati Museum Center. Audition hours aren't definite, but in other cities sign-in has been 9 a.m. with auditions at 10 a.m.

The call is for Apprentice 3, airing in the spring of 2005.

Apprentice 1 was a huge hit last year, spawning a whole line of merchandise and ranking No. 1 in overall viewers with an average weekly audience of 20.7 million. The finale drew 28 million and saw Trump pick Bill Rancic to oversee a construction project.

"We're expecting 600 to 1,000 people," said Channel 5 general manager Richard Dyer. "It's probably going to go all day. The way it works is executive producers from Mark Burnett Productions come in and do group interviews, 10 or so people at a time, and then determine who will be called back.

"The Donald won't be here."

Hopefuls can go to www.nbc.com and fill out an application.

E-mail jknippenberg@enquirer.com